Recently I got a Chance to get out my fly rod and go fishing a a tiny trout stream in Elk County, PA. I decided to make it more about photo taking than fishing and, trust me, no fish were harmed in the making of these photos. The first thing you notice about streams that are suitable for native wild trout is the fact that they are heavily forested over.
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Little sunlight reaches this creek. |
Since the water sees little sunlight from the time it emerges from ground until the stream wanders into more open farm country it is pretty cold. As you can see from the picture, at this time of year the flow of the stream is low and slow. there aren't a lot of nutrients for fish and consequently the fish are small. The wild brook trout are from four to six inches generally. To find one bigger is rare. They are survivors and therefore spooky when it comes to trying to present a dry fly. So while I saw fish here and there and on two occasions I enticed fish to rise to the fly I missed both times. I decided to settle for some dark green photos. I carried a Sony A6000 with a Sigma 17-70 mounted with a Sigma MC-11 adapter. It's a fairly heavy rig for hiking in rough country but I like this lens.
One of the landmarks I was told to look for is the remains of this water-powered sawmill.
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A pile of rocks will sit there for a very long time. |
I found a few flowers that made good subjects for photos.
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I don't know the name of this flower I don't think I've ever seen this. |
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Or this one. |
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Rhododendron |
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More Rhododendron | | |
A lot of people call the Rhododendron that grows along streams and creeks in PA Mountain Laurel. Mountain Laurel or calicobush grows in higher, drier places. See the difference
here .
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